SB 389 
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RE AND VINIC 



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CALIFORNIA. 



STATEMENTS AND EXTRACTS 



Reports of the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners, 



PREPARED SPECIALLY FOR 



DISTRIBUTION AT THE NEW ORLEANS WORLD'S FAIR, A. D. 1885. 





SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA : 

STATE OFFICE, JAMES J. AYERS, SUPT. STATE PRINTING. 

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E AND VINICU 



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CALIFORNIA. 



STATEMENTS AND EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF THE 

BOARD OF STATE VITICULTURAL COMMISSIONERS, 

PREPARED SPECIALLY FOR DISTRIBUTION AT 

THE NEW ORLEANS WORLD'S FAIR, A. D. 1885. 




SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: 

STATE OFFICE, JAMES J. AVERS, SUPT. STATE PRINTING. 

1885. 






IN 



OFFICERS AND MEMBERS 

Vj OF THE 

BOARD OF STATE VITICULTURAL COMMISSIONERS. 



ARPAD HARASZTHY, President, 
Commissioner for the State at Large. 

CHAS. A. WETMORE, Vice-President, 
Commissioner for the San Francisco district. 

CHAS. KRUG, Treasurer, 

Commissioner for the Napa District. 

I. DeTurk Commissioner for the Sonoma District. 

R. B. Blowers Commissioner for the Sacramento District. 

George West Commissioner for the San Joaquin District. 

L. J. Rose Commissioner for the Los Angeles .District. 

G. G. Blanchard Commissioner for the El Dorado District. 

J. DeBarth Shore. _' Commissioner for the State at Large. 

JOHN H. WHEELER, Secretary.. 

CHAS. A. WETMORE, 
Chief Executive Viticultural and Health Officer. 



STANDING COMMITTEES. 

Executive Chas. A. Wetmore, Geo. West, and I. DeTurk. 

Auditing I. DeTurk. 

Finance L.J. Rose and J. DeBarth Shokis. 

Phylloxera, Vine Pests, and Diseases of the Vine : 
I. DeTurk, Geo. West, and R. B. Blowers. 

On Instructions for the Office of the Chief Executive Viticultural Officer: 
Arpad Haraszthy, Chas. Krug, and I. DeTdrk. 

On Raisins: 
Geo. West, L. J. Rose, and R. B. Blowers. 

On Distillation, Counterfeits, and Adulterations: 
J. DeBarth Shorb, Chas. Kkug, and Geo. West. 

Offices of the Board : 
No. 204 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California. 



State Viticultural Commission, ~) 

Offices, No. 204 Montgomery Street, 

San Francisco, March 5, 1885. j 

To his Excellency George Stoneman, Governor of the State of Cali- 
fornia : 

In accordance with your request, the Board of State Viticultu- 
ral Commissioners has prepared for publication a brief compilation 
of statements relating to viticulture and viniculture in California, 
together with such original matter as was deemed best suited to sub- 
serve the end in view, for distribution at the New Orleans World's 
Fair. Subjects of technical interest have been avoided as uninter- 
esting to the general public. 

Should this document result in awakening any spirit of inquiry 
as to questions of special practical interest concerning our industry, 
whether relating to production or commerce, this Commission will 
always be at the service o of the public when called upon for any 
information that pertains to the advancement and prosperity of the 
State. 

Respectfully submitted. 

ARPAD HARASZTHY, President. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE SECOND ANNUAL REPORT 



CHARLES A, WETMORE, CHIEF EXECDTIVE VITICULTURAL OFFICER, 



BOARD OF STATE VITICULTURAL COMMISSIONERS, 



PUBLISHED BY THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. 



VITICULTURE CONSIDERED INDUSTRIALLY FROM THE STANDPOINT OF 

NATIONAL IMPORTANCE. 

The relative importance of industries, considered from the stand- 
point of national stability, growth, and prosperity, depends upon the 
number of persons that are required to operate them in proportion 
to area of territory occupied, assuming that the means of alimenta- 
tion can be procured either from the cultivation of the soil within 
the limits of the Nation, or by exchanging industrial products for 
the food of other countries. The study of hygiene, preservation of 
public peace, control of epidemics, preservation of the unity and 
purity of family life, and the love and maintenance of children, are 
consistent only when based upon the assumed capacity of agriculture 
to sustain life and the multiplication of industries to employ the 
healthful labor of increasing multitudes. Rapid and economical 
transportation become necessary for the distribution and exchange 
of labor products; education, social, intellectual, and aesthetic, coupled 
with freedom for desire and opportunity, create and maintain the 
wants that constitute markets. Assuming that agriculture has latent 
undeveloped resources for development, in proportion as there is pov- 
erty, disease, violence, and starvation to diminish the demand for 
food, the profits and prosperity of the farmer diminish through over 
production, wasteful competition, and the drain of resources caused 
by the expense of distant transportations in search of markets. In 
proportion as the food consumers are free from class degradations, and 
as they are educated socially, morally, intellectually, and aesthetically, 
their wants increase, their demands for the fair exchange of labor 
products multiply, and the food producers prosper and advance apace 
with civilization. Where agriculture alone is encouraged education 
languishes, arts perish, labor is miserable, and wealth is controlled 
by a small class of importers and transportation agencies; in such 
case also agriculture depends solely upon the precarious and fitful 



8 

demands of other countries, the conditions of commerce are beyond 
the control of the Nation, and the children of the farmer must largely 
emigrate to more civilized communities; genius, talent, ambition, 
will not remain in such a land, and freedom will vanish before the 
arms of invaders and the cupidity of capital. 

Let the farmers of this country compare such a picture of purely 
agricultural development with the other extreme of national exist- 
ence; compare it with the condition of England, where food is want- 
ing, but where industry has courage, talent, genius, and military and 
naval power, guided by political sagacity, to forage on strange lands 
for food supplies. Will they hesitate to choose which of the two 
evils they would prefer? And will they not in aiding in the devel- 
opment of this great Nation, aim to create an industrial and civilized 
England within an agricultural America? 

Our inevitable national policy may be deduced from the consider- 
ation of these questions; inevitable, because our people are not a 
nation of fools, and do not intend to emigrate. Education, econom- 
ical transportation, public and private morals, peace at home and 
abroad, equality before the law, and the rapid destruction of class 
distinctions, as the people, protected by a government of the people 
and for the people, become qualified socially for mutual and virtuous 
intercourse : — these are the foundation stones of our distinctive 
nationality. If this ideal has its enemies at home, it is because there 
are in all people conflicting principles of progress and retrogression, 
and because childhood has its peculiar perversities, born of undisci- 
plined selfishness and lack of wisdom. 

Viticulture, in professing to fulfill all the proper demands of the 
people as a progressive industry, conducive to public prosperity, hap- 
piness, and civilization, bases its claims for popular recognition, and 
State and National encouragement and protection, on the principles 
comprised in the foregoing general propositions. It has its enemies 
among political economists, who do not rightfully share our happy 
conditions of progress; and among reformers, whose notions of politi- 
cal power would lead them, if successful, to add to their present follies 
the religious intolerance of the past. It is, therefore, as necessary 
that we should discuss the principles of political economy and liberty, 
on which our ultimate success depends, as fully as we need to 
demonstrate the science and art that must govern the industry itself 
This Commission addresses not only the viticulturist, but also the 
whole people and their Legislatures. 

France and California are so nearly alike in extent of territory and 
agricultural resources, that it is to her that we may look for the most 
instructive lessons of experience. Dr. Jules Guvot, the celebrated 
scientist, who was commissioned by the French Government to make 
a study ot the vineyards of that country with a view to improving 
their conditions, in the preface to his great work, which emploved his 
undivided labor during four years, makes statements, which I trans- 
late as follows: 

c ?^ e J' ne occu P' ed in France, in 1788, about 3,365,000 acres; in 1829, 4,975 000 acres- in 1849 
5,482,500 acres; i. 1852, 5,750,000 acres; and, since that time, its area hasextended unUl it' 



reaches the figure, to-day (December 10, 1867), of 6,250,000 acres; more than the half of the 
total area of the wine-producing vineyards of the world; a little more than five per cent of the 
entire territory of France, and the sixteenth part of its arable soil. 

The gross product of the vineyards of France is more than three hundred millions of dollars; 
"their culture employs and supports one million five hundred thousand families, which means 
six millions of inhabitants, and more than two millions of accessory operatives, transporters, 
and merchants, constituting together at least the fifth of our population, and representing a 
production and consumption of more than four hundred million dollars. 

The gross product of the vine constitutes a quarter of the total agricultural production (ani- 
mals not included), realized from one sixteenth part of the arable soil. This product is, then, 
mathematically, four times greater, according to surface covered, than all the other cultures 
combined. 

Wherever the vine ripens its fruit well, it doubles the revenue of estates, large or small, in 
which its culture covers one fifth of the area, if it is directed with intelligence and receives care 
and fertilizing in proportion to what i&bestowed on other cultures. 

The culture of the vyie is among the easiest, simplest, and most lucrative. It yields remu- 
nerative crops after the third year of plantation. The vine adapts itself to all geological form- 
ations ; it prospers in lands the most arid, and the least favorable to cereals, root crops, and hay ; 
it is, therefore, by this fact, the complement of all good agriculture, while it is the silent partner 
of the latter by reason of the money it produces — its strength and resource by reason of the 
hands and mouths that it supports. 

Wine is the most precious and energetic of all alimentary drinks; its habitual use at the 
family table saves a third of the bread and meat; and, more than bread and meat, wine stim- 
ulates bodily strength, warms the heart, and develops the spirit of sociability ; it gives activity, 
decision, courage, and contentment in labor and in all action.. No drink, beer, cider, etc., can 
replace it in its happy and complete influence. Thus ought it to constitute soon the alimentary 
drink of all families, rich or poor, wherever civilization extends its blessings. 

The normal consumption of wine a3 food, in order to give to human society its full force and 
activity of mind and body, should be at least equal to that of bread and its supplements; that 
would mean that France alone should consume two billion six hundred and forty million gal- 
lons annually, while yet she produces only from one billion three hundred million to one billion 
six hundred million gallons. 

The great mind of Guyot enriched the agricultural wealth of France 
by instructing the producer how to make the most of his resources. 
He set an example of study that has since been followed by many 
intelligent students, who are perfecting and enlarging his theories of 
practical culture and vinifi cation. This State is now drinking deep 
at the fountains of knowledge discovered in their books and illus- 
trated in practical experience. The literature of France and Ger- 
many to-day is worth to us more than many mines of gold, and the 
students of other countries are adding their contributions to our 
industrial library. 

In 1878 I investigated the condition and growth of viticulture in 
France and its influence upon the people. I found that during the 
decade preceding that year, the average annual production of wine 
in that country had increased to one billion five hundred million 
gallons, estimated according to the American, not the British, wine 
measure. 

This production had increased in forty years from an average of 
seven hundred million gallons, by reason, probably, of diminished 
distillation and improved facilities for transportation, as well as by 
improved culture and increased acreage planted in the most fertile 
regions. Foreign commerce did not account for the increase, because 
during the same period exportations increased only from an average 
of thirty to an average of sixty million gallons annually, and now 
importations are in excess of exportations. The simple truth is, 
therefore, that practically the entire wine product of France is con- 



10 

sumed at home; nay, more, it lias proved, as railways extended their 
lines, insufficient for home demand, as is shown by the efforts of dis- 
honest trade to swell the quantity by falsifications and the strong 
attempts of the Government to prevent the same. As Guyot said, 
France needs more wine than her vineyards supply, and, therefore, 
any improved methods by which the vines may be made to produce 
more without exhaustion would prove a national blessing, as well as 
to add profits to viticulture. 

In the course of my investigations into the influence of wine pro- 
duction and consumption upon the health, morals, and happiness of 
the people, I consulted the ablest medical^uthorities of both England 
and France, and the records of accidents, crimes, suicides, and insan- 
ity. I became acquainted with some of the distinguished men com- 
posing the Society for the Promotion of Temperance in France, and, 
through Doctor L. Lunier, Inspector General of the insane asylums 
and of the sanitary conditions of the prisons of that country, Secre- 
tary of the society, I was elected as one of its corresponding mem- 
bers. I am in possession of all of its printed reports and of the most 
important works published on this subject by many of the distin- 
guished scientists and medical practitioners who are among its active 
members. 

The statistical resources in France for the study of these questions 
are remarkably accurate and complete. All fermented and distilled 
beverages are so taxed that a perfect record of the consumption per 
capita of each kind in each department, commune, city, and town, 
can be traced. The tables prepared by Dr. Lunier show that the per- 
centages of accidents, drunkenness, deaths, insanity, and suicides, 
attributable to alcoholic excesses, vary directly in proportion to the 
consumption of beet root, potato, and grain spirits, and inversely in 
proportion to the consumption of wine; that where wine is produced 
and consumed the most, the consumption of spirits decreases; that 
red wine districts show more favorably than the white; and that, 
even in the brandy-producing district of Cognac, the relations hold 
good as compared with white wine consumption, and the habits of 
the people do not lean to a large use of brandy. The evil results of 
alcoholic excesses are demonstrated as to the use of spirits, cider, 
beer, and wine, in the order named, in proportion to quantity con- 
sumed, being the worst in the case of the first, and least, if at all to 
be mentioned, in the case of the last. As illustrations, compare the 
following: 

Department of the Gironde (including the maritime, commercial, 
and manufacturing City of Bordeaux) consumption per capita in 
litres, per annum: spirits, 1.36; wine, 180; cider, 0; beer, 3.73. Con- 
victions for drunkenness in public, for each 10,000 inhabitants, in 
1874-1876, 8.89; accidental deaths attributed to alcoholic excesses for 
each 100,000 inhabitants in 1872-1875, 0.74; insanity attributed to alco- 
holism, percentage of each 100 committed, in 1867-1869 and 1874-1876, 
13.44; suicides from alcoholism, percentage of each 100, 12.60. 

Department of Seine-Inferieure, under same heads as preceding: 
spirits, 10; wine, 21; cider, 79; beer, 9.60. Convicted of drunkenness, 
76.62; accidental deaths, 1.84; insanity, 22.65; suicides, 9.99. 



11 

Department of Calvados, headings do.: spirits, 6.80; wine, 8.1; 
cider, 182.24; beer, 3.48. Drunks, 24.63; accidental deaths, 1.54; in- 
sanity, 29.37; suicides, 23.35. 

Department of Nord, headings do.: spirits, 4.65; wine, 9; cider, 
0.02; beer, 220. Drunks, 23.90; accidental deaths, 0.54; insanity, 8.78; 
suicides, 19.35. 

Department of Charente (including the Cognac district), headings 
do.: spirits, 0.91 ; wine, 224.2; cider, 0; beer, 8.16. Drunks, 7.47; acci- 
dental deaths, 1.05; insanity, 12.17; suicides, 9.43. 

These illustrate in brief, modified by occult causes, which, in large 
cities and manufacturing centers, such as immoral habits, excite- 
ments due to business and depressions due to misery, what may be 
designated as the relative evil results of alcoholism, as shown in com- 
parison with the popular beverages. 

That practically no evil results spring from the use of wine, 
unmixed with other drinks, is shown by the record of — 

The Department of Aude, headings as before in the case of the 
Gironde: spirits, 0.90; wine, 260; cider, 0; beer, 8.74. Drunks, 2.80; 
accidental deaths, 0.08; insanity, 9.08; suicides, 0. 

That a low average per capita consumption of wine, together with 
even as low an average as in Aude with respect to other drinks, does 
not effect a better showing, is demonstrated by the record of a very 
abstemious population in — 

The department of Haute-Savoie (Alpine District), headings as 
before: spirits, 0.37; wine, 38.4; cider, 1.98; beer, 2.47. Drunks, 16.77; 
accidental deaths, 2.29; insanity, 13.22; suicides, 5.56. ■* 

It is apparent that in Haute-Savoie neither fermented nor distilled 
drinks are popular at the family table; that the spirits are probably 
German potato whiskies; that the absence of wine at the table sends 
those who drink to the cabarets or saloons; and that the evils of 
intemperance, small as they are, are worse than in Aude, where 260 
litres (68.64 gallons) are consumed per capita, without any apparent 
evil results that may not, from an examination of these records, be 
attributed to the small proportions of other drinks consumed in the 
community. Aude, with its 68.64 gallons of wine consumed annually 
per capita, is practically a strictly temperate country, .showing less 
danger from the bountiful use of wine than can be shown from smug- 
gled alcohol in the most strictly governed prohibition communities 
of this country. 

A careful study of statistics, together with personal observation of 
the habits of a great* wine district, demonstrate that the free use of 
pure wine as a daily food leads to no excesses whatever that termi- 
nate in alcoholism or drunkenness and their attendant accidents. 
. As to the health of wine-drinking communities — where wine is a 
daily food — I could find no traces of special diseases attributable to 
its use. I could find no reference to such on the part of medical 
authorities. In such places liver complaints, kidney troubles, etc., 
were not more conspicuous but apparently less so than in other coun- 
tries ; and in respect to sound digestion and general good health, 
especially of women, the comparison was always in favor of the wine 
drinkers. 



12 

As to evidences of popular happiness and content, we have only to 
observe that gay songs, bright faces, and alacrity so characterize the 
people of wine countries, and their contentment is so well proved by 
their reluctance to emigrate, that we have only to witness the tired 
sullenness and silence that brood over the dinner hour of the Amer- 
ican working people, who drench their stomachs at morning with a 
flood of bad coffee, soak their hot food at noon with cold water, fill a 
tired stomach in a tired body at night, without pleasure and convivial 
expression to revive tired spirits, and relieve their minds either by 
evening dullness, or even bad temper, or by spirituous excitement in 
the drinking saloon — we have only to witness these things to cause 
us to wish godspeed to viticulture. 

As to evidences of the influence of viticulture as an industry, giv- 
ing employment to one fifth of the population of a great nation, on 
"the wealth and general prosperity of the people, we have only to point 
to France in our times, as we have seen her emerging from a great 
war, paying off her great debt, proceeding peacefully with her indus- 
tries, engaging in great enterprises, exploring and colonizing Africa 
and Asia, building interoceanic canals, engaging in foreign wars, and, 
even under a republican form of government, attracting to her capi- 
tal annually thousands of our most intelligent travelers, students, 
and pleasure seekers. 

As to public and private morals, those who would judge France by 
the floating population of strangers and pleasure seekers, which is 
catered to by the professionally dissolute classes, should, if in this 
country, institute the comparison by first studying life at Saratoga, 
Long Branch, and the " Thoroughbreds " of New York. If they would 
judge her by the home life of her producing classes, they will confess 
that, as travelers, they have not seen the inside of French homes, 
which are protected by customs, peculiar to her people, from the 
knowledge of strangers. 

As to the administration of justice and the honorable discharge of 
public trusts, France shows no demoralization resulting from the con- 
sumption of fifteen hundred million gallons of wine annually and the 
absorption of one fifth of her population in viticultural industries. 

As to the advancement of arts and sciences, we see no decadence 
from the use of wine; the greatest scientists and artists are wine 
drinkers, and to Pasteur, who occupies the public mind more than 
any other to-day, viticulture owes its greatest impulse in perfecting 
methods of fermentation. 

As to the preservation of the idea of personal liberty, equality, and 
fraternity, wine proves no degrading influence. Surrounded by 
greater obstacles than have been encountered by any great nation in 
the progress of popular development, France, in our times, coincident 
with the vast increase in the productions of viticulture, has achieved 
republican freedom and stands to-day the peer of European nations. 

There are those who confound the results of race characteristics, 
social oppressions, and ages of ignorance among working people, with 
the results of wine production. Let those, who desire to make fair 
comparisons, institute them between those eastern countries within 
the zone of viticulture, where the industry is fostered, and where it 



13 

has been interdicted. Compare Greece, even in her decline, and Italy 
with Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, and Persia. Compare prohibition Pales- 
tine with ancient wine drinking Judea. Compare peasant life of 
France and Germany with that of Russia. Viticulture will not shrink 
from learning any useful lesson that may be drawn from the expe- 
rience of the world as taught by science and honest investigation. 

Happy California! She, who may rival France in viticulture! 
Happy United States of America — Columbia! She, who counts the 
star of California on her national flag! Happy San Francisco! She, 
who will become the Paris of America! Happy may our enemies 
be, those who predict debauchery, crime, poverty, and public deca- 
dence, as the outgrowth of viticulture, if they may see forty millions 
of people supported on the soil of California, as happily situated as 
those of wine-blessed France! Happy viticulturists of California! 
When public sentiment boasts of your achievements, and crafty poli- 
ticians do not disguise their friendship! Unhappy Iowa! For she 
has lost personal liberty, and may look to her present rulers for their 
next attempt, which will be to engraft ecclesiastical intolerance in the 
constitution of her government! 

THE GROWTH AND PRESENT CONDITION OP VITICULTURE IN CALI- 
FORNIA. 

Viticulture was introduced into California by the Franciscan 
Fathers, who established the first civilization on this coast. Their first 
Mission was founded at San Diego in the year 1769. As soon as they 
had securely commenced their work of proselyting the native Indian 
tribes, bringing them to engage in industrial pursuits in the vicinity 
of the Missions, they planted the vine, olive, fig, pomegranate, date, 
palm, and pear. Relics of these early plantations are still in exist- 
ence. The orange and lemon appear also to have been cultivated; 
but at what period they were introduced I have not learned. Cereals 
and leguminous plants, cattle and. horses, were also objects of their 
industry. 

A variety of the vitis vinifera, bearing large loose clusters of black 
grapes, was propagated at all the Missions in favorable situations. 
This variety is now known as the Mission grape. If it came from 
Spain or Mexico directly, or was produced from seed, is not now 
known. Certainly it bears no resemblance to any variety that has 
since been imported from Europe, or that has been described in any 
work on ampelogjraphy that we can find. That the Fathers, consid- 
ering their great resources at that time, would have neglected, if they 
made their selections in Spain, such noble vines as the Pedro Ximenes, 
Grenache, Carignan, and Moscatel Gordo Blanco, is not to be sup- 
posed. That it may have been considered by them impractical to 
preserve vine cuttings, or roots, in those days of long voyages, is not 
improbable. That they attempted to propagate the vine, olive, fig, 
pear, and other fruits from the seed, is not only reasonable to think, 
but that they did so is made apparent by the distinctive character- 
istics of the relics they have left to us in their orchards and vine- 
yards. The identical and rustic natures of the Mission vines, olives, 



14 

and figs makes it also appear that the seedlings were first produced 
in Mexico, where the most vigorous varieties were undoubtedly 
selected for the California Missions. If the Mission grape was a popu- 
lar variety in Spain a century ago, it has certainly disappeared as 
such before the hand of the skillful cultivator, as it is now disap- 
pearing in many sections of this State. 

In some of the old vineyards, planted from stocks obtained from 
the early Missions, there is yet to be found a white variety having a 
delicate Muscat flavor. This may have been a seedling of the Mus- 
cat blcmc of Frontignan. 

Soon after the cession of California to the United States, some of 
the new settlers, seeing the fertility of the Mission vine, and being 
acquainted more or less with viticulture, conceived the idea of aban- 
doning gold hunting and engaging in wine making. Among the 
most prominent of these pioneers were Colonel Agoston Haraszthy 
and Charles Kohler. The latter may be styled the pioneer and 
founder of the present wine trade of California. Mr. Kohler became, 
not only a wine maker and merchant, but also a vine-grower. He is 
still a leader of the industry, operating large vineyards in Los Angeles, 
Sonoma, and Fresno Counties, and conducting mercantile business 
in wines and brandies in San Francisco and New York. 

Colonel Agoston Haraszthy, the honored father of our worthy 
President, brought with him a knowledge of viticulture acquired in 
Hungary, his native land. More than thirty years ago he commenced 
to propagate vines in San Diego; thence, he transferred his nurseries 
to San Mateo, and afterwards to Sonoma County. He collected, by 
direct importation and from others engaged like him, a large number 
of varieties, a'mong them the Zinfandel, which he knew in Hungary. 
This vine he imported and propagated with so much zeal, and urged 
its adoption with so much success, that it now dominates among the 
red wine varieties in our vineyards. It was the first vine to give 
extended popularity to our clarets. In 1859, he was appointed by the 
State as the leading member of a Commission to study the vineyards 
of Europe and to make collections of desirable vines. He traveled 
throughout France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, made collections of 
vines, and acquired information, all of which was freeely devoted to 
the advancement of the industry on this coast. The catalogue of his 
nursery comprised the greater portion of the noble vines of the world, 
and as a matter of history, was reprinted in the first annual reports 
of this Commission. It would not be true to history if we did not 
record the fact that the action of the State was at that time merely 
in conferring an honorary distinction, without expense to the people. 
Colonel Haraszthy traveled and made his collections at his own pri- 
vate cost. If the State at that time had realized the importance of 
the work undertaken, and provided for popular instruction in viti- 
culture, especially as to the relative merits and uses of the different 
varieties introduced, we should have been far more advanced in the 
quality of our products than we are to-day. 

Colonel Haraszthy founded the Buena Vista Vineyard at Sonoma, 
and made many experiments in the attempt to reproduce there types 
of foreign wines popular in commerce. He was one of the first to 



15 

demonstrate the practicability and general superiority of wine vine- 
yards cultivated without irrigation, and taught the doctrine that 
careful selection of varieties would control the quality of our prod- 
ucts. From his collection, among many others, were propagated the 
now popular varieties of table grapes, the Flame Tokay, and Emperor, 
and the Muscatel, which passes sometimes under the name of Moscatel 
Gordo Blanco, Muscat of Alexandria, and White Muscat, well known to 
the raisin makers and the shippers of table grapes. Mr. R. B. Blow- 
ers obtained his Muscatel and Emperor stocks from Colonel Haraszthy, 
giving the name Emperor himself to a variety the true name of which 
had been lost, and to this time not recovered. The necessities of 
business led Colonel Haraszthy away from this State before he had 
completed his labors, and he left this life without realizing the great 
and honorable reputation which has become the legacy of his chil- 
dren, two of whom are following in the path that he so wisely pointed 
out. 

Contemporary with Colonel Haraszthy were a number of enthusi- 
astic citizens from France and Germany, who imported favorite stocks 
from their native lands, and laid the foundations of vineyards that 
are now successful. 

The Germans adhered, however, generally more closely and per- 
sistently to their enterprises, and propagated with more systematic 
effort the noble varieties of the Rhine, leading among which has been 
the Riesling (called Johannisberg here), and the Sylvaner (or Franken 
Riesling), Orleans, Gutedel, Traminer, and a variety called Burger, 
which is not the well known Burger, or Weiss Elbling of Germany. 
It is a question whether the so called Golden Chasselas of St. Helena 
came in their collections, or whether it was accidentally misnamed 
after coming from Colonel Haraszthy 's collection of Spanish varieties. 
The systematic plantations of these German collections won the first 
victory for quality in our white wines, which became popular in the 
markets before any of our clarets gained public recognition. 

The French varieties, as well as the large collections made by 
Colonel Haraszthy from all sources, fell generally into the hands of 
planters who either abandoned their enterprises before perfecting 
them, or who were not acquainted with their relative merits and 
proper methods of culture. A few, notable among whom are Mr. 
Charles Lefranc and Mr. P. Pellier, preserved and propagated collec- 
tions, now extant, which have been of recent service. The noble 
varieties of wine grapes of France and Germany, with few exceptions, 
require long pruning, special care, and adaptation to soil and climate, 
in order to produce profitable results. Until comparatively recently 
all varieties were subjected to the same treatment, and were tested 
without reference to adaptation to soil and climate. The practice of 
pruning on arms, after the goblet style, with short spurs, which had 
been learned from the Mexicans in cultivating the Mission grape, was 
applied to all alike by nearly every vine-grower. Each one experi- 
mented first with promiscuous varieties and selected for continued 
propagation those that yielded by their methods the largest crops. At 
one time even the Riesling was in danger of being sacrificed as an 
unprofitable vine; indeed, so few understood it that until very recent 



16 



plantations it entered into very few vineyards for more than a small 
proportion. The Riesling wines of our commerce have therefore been 
largely blended with coarser products, and the true capacity of our 
State to furnish the Rhenish types of good quality is not yet well 
known to the general trade outside the State. In this respect, as in 
others, the surprises for the eastern markets that our new vineyards 
promise within the next three years can scarcely be appreciated at 
present. By the unfortunate system of selection adopted the choicest 
of French, Spanish, and Portuguese varieties were sacrificed to the 
test of quantity by short pruning. The result has been that the 
original collections of noble stocks were mostly lost to identification 
and forgotten by name until the organization of this Commission, 
when a new impulse to systematic viticulture was given. The 
Trousseau was neglected for the Charbono, the Sauvignon blanc and 
jaune for the Colombar and Folle Blanche, and the Bordeaux claret 
and Burgundy stocks were practically abandoned, the small propor- 
tions existjng being drowned beyond recognition of their quality in 
thousands of gallons of coarser grades. 

To explain the peculiarities of our wines to those who have looked 
for reproductions of celebrated European wines in our general stocks 
as handled by the trade, and who have asserted our inability to 
produce them, it is necessary to say that among the bearing vine- 
yards of the State, with the exception of the Rhenish stocks, the 
Hungarian Zinfandels, and two plantations of the Roussillon varieties 
(Mataro, Carignan, and Grenache), there has not been found a single 
bearing vineyard planted systematically with the varieties necessary 
to reproduce the types of Bordeaux clarets, Burgundies, Sauternes, 
Hermitage, Portuguese port, Spanish Sherry, Madeira, or Cognac. 
The few Roussillons and an acceptable type of Sauterne from the 
Colombar blended with other varieties, have been consumed in local 
markets. A very limited proportion of Chauche noir, Trousseau, Char- 
bono, and of such uncertainly named vines as Crubb's Black Burgundy, 
with scattering small lots of Mataro, have fpund their way to market 
in blends of selected stocks. Sweet ports have been made specially 
from the Mission grape, with recently in some places an addition of 
Zinfandel and the so called Black Malvasia. Sherries have been pro- 
duced after the French rather than the Spanish rules, and from any 
wines that presented heavy types and an approximation to the popu- 
lar notion of sherry flavors. Sweet wines of original types have been 
very successfully playing the roles of Malaga, Madeira, Angelica, etc. 
Brandy has been of three leading classes, viz.: distillations direct 
from the Mission grape without excluding the wine fermented on the 
skins, and without blending varieties to produce aroma and bouquet; 
brandy from the pomace, or refuse of the wine press, and from wine 
that has been rejected on account of defective fermentation; and new 
types of original character unknown to commerce, such as General 
Naglee s products from the Charbono, with small admixture of Trous- 
seau. Few exceptions can be made to this statement as to brandies, 
such as the recent distillations of Mr. George West, from his White 
Prolific (true name unknown), which resemble Cognac in character 

Exceptionally good lots of wines and brandies have been made at 



n 



17 

different times from small lots of grapes of fine quality, such as Mr. 
Lefranc's Malbech of a few vintages, Mr. George West's Frontignan, 
Mr. Bugbey's (very small lot) Verdelho, Mr. J. H. Drummond's (ex- 
perimental work) Cabernet-Sauvignon, Petite Synth, and Semillon, Mr. 
William Scheffler's Burgundy, Mr. J. B. J. Portal's Ploussard, and Mr. 
L. J. Rose's and Mr. George West's Trousseau port of true type. The 
most numerous samples of experimental wines, not offered for sale, 
but which have convinced those who have seen them of the practi- 
cability of reproducing the noble types of Europe, have recently been 
shown by Mr. H. W. Crabb, Mr. J. H. Drummond, and Mr. Horatio 
Livermore, Manager of the Natoma Vineyards. 

As the general market knows our wines and brandies, with the 
exception of German White Rhenish types, Zinfandel, and a few 
blends, slightly improved by a little Mataro, Charbono, Trousseau, 
Chauche noir, and Crabb' s Black Burgundy, our stocks have not been 
produced from systematically selected varieties, planted with refer- 
ence to the reproduction of popular types known to the world. 

In champagnes, Mr. Arpad Haraszthy has made a signal success in 
producing a type, after the true manner of fermentation as practiced 
in the celebrated champagne district of France, which differs from 
French champagne in character not much more than Mumm's 
brands differ from Roederer's, but which owes its peculiar flavors 
and bouquet to the white juices of the Zinfandel and Burger, while 
those of France owe theirs to the pinot family, and other less noble 
stocks. The Burgundy and champagne pinot varieties have not been 
cultivated in California in vineyards, now bearing, in numbers to 
affect products appreciably. A sample lot of the champagne stocks, 
planted by Mr. Benson, will be tested this year. 

The foregoing explanation of the sources of our present market 
wines should prepare our distant friends for new experiences, when 
new qualities are offered from the vineyards that have been planted 
during the last four years. These new vineyards necessarily show 
a predominance of those varieties which were attainable in suffi- 
cient quantities from the vineyards already in bearing. The general 
average of quality has, however, been very materially raised by dis- 
carding the least valuable among the prolific varieties, such as the 
Mission and Black Malvasia, and by increasing the value of Zinfandel, 
Charbono, Burger, Chasselas, etc., which generally have given fair and 
sometimes superior products, by adding certain proportions, as the 
stock of cuttings has permitted, of Burgundies, Trousseau, Chauche 
noir, Malbech, Mataro, Carignan, Grenache, Ploussard (of red wine 
varieties), and Colombar, Folle Blanche, West's White Prolific, Rieslnig 
(Moselle, Johannisberg, Franken, and Orleans), Frontignan, and Ver- 
delho. Coloring wines from the Lenoir, Camay Teinturier, and the 
Bouschet hybrids will also soon make an appearance. 

With a largely increased area in the best varieties now known to 
the market, improved by the absence of blends with Mission and 
other inferior stocks, which will soon, except for special purposes and 
some sweet wines, be sent to the distilleries, and by the addition of 
certain proportions of the nobler stocks and of those having special 
2 



18 

value for their tannin and coloring contents, the wine markets within 
the next three years will witness a veritable revolution of general aver- 
age quality. The improvement will be specially noticeable in dry reds 
(of Bordeaux and Burgundy commercial types), sweet reds of true 
Oporto character (the Trousseau or Bastardo having been specially 
and extensively propagated for this purpose), Rhenish Whites, fair 
substitutes for light Sauternes (from Colombar and Folle Blanche with 
appropriate blends), and good approximations to high classed young 
Cognacs, if not their equals. Wine dealers will understand that I 
am using words critically, and that such brands as I refer to as the 
certain results of the next few vintages will be far superior to the 
average imported grades of similar pretensions. My intention always 
is to furnish to commerce a correct guide, suited to the critical stand- 
point of trade, so that it may know what to expect and how to prepare 
for what is coming. We shall appeal to the wine dealers throughout 
the United States to assist and encourage our producers in their 
present endeavors to raise the standard of quality in their products. 
If this appeal should fail, either this Commission will have preached 
sound doctrines in vain, or our producers must vindicate our wisdom 
by organizing and controlling the wine trade to suit their own proper 
ambitions. 

In the near future the wine dealers may prepare also to provide a 
market for clarets of high Medoc character, true high class Burgundy, 
true Sauternes, and Cognac types that will rival the best produced 
and surpass any in general commerce. High-classed sherry is a thing 
yet for experiment, the necessary preliminary test samples not yet 
having been produced. Fine sweet wines and cordials can be pro- 
duced whenever the trade will indicate the demand. In this respect 
there is no doubt of complete success; and with respect to the Oporto 
type the vines are now beginning to bear that will distance all possi- 
ble competition from abroad. It remains only to be seen whether 
the consumers prefer corn spirits, flavored and sweetened with glucose 
syrups. So far as good dry wines and fine brandies are concerned, 
we know that nothing stands in the way of our markets except the 
cupidity of many retailers, whose dishonesty must either be restrained 
by their own good sense or by the hard hand of the law. 

Many of our most progressive planters, particularly some of those 
who possess sufficient capital to hold wines until maturity, are mak- 
ing rapid progress towards the reproduction of the finest possible 
types by grafting old vines with imported cuttings. These will com- 
mence to make their showing within three years, but how long before 
they pass the limits of local demands is not so clearly stated. They 
will find many more to follow their example, if practical results fol- 
low their first attempts, and the transformation of lower grade vines 
by means of grafting will work astonishing wonders in a few years. 
The question with them will be, will the market pay for high quality 
that has been attained at a sacrifice in quantity? 

Dealers who have been accustomed to believe that fine wines require 
many years of maturing, will learn that this process, for reasons not 
necessary in this connection to discuss, is much hastened by natural 
causes in California, as shown by present experience. 



19 

We have no means for procuring exact estimates of the areas of 
vines planted throughout the State. The Assessors fail in every case 
to obtain even approximate returns. Our own estimates are based 
on better opportunities to judge the facts and a disposition to learn 
the truth. Prior to 1880, the extent was variously estimated at from 
fifty to sixty thousand acres; the former figure is probably nearest 
to the truth. Since that time about one hundred thousand acres have 
been planted, and the disposition to increase the work still further 
continues. As long as many soils suitable for vines fail to produce 
profitable crops of cereals, and real estate operations make them too 
high priced for grazing, and as long as a tide of immigration seeks 
our climate for congenial occupation, this industry will continue to 
grow, checked only by temporary fears of over production. 

On December 18, 1883, I made, for the use of the press, an estimate 
of vines planted and probable vintages for coming seasons up to that 
of 1888, as follows: 

Area of vines planted prior to 1881 and now bearing well, about 60,000 acres; planted in 
1881, about 10,000 acres; in 1882, about 35,000 acres; in 1883, about 35,000 acres. Estimated 
to be planted in 1884, if weather is propitious, 30,000 acres. There will be in 1885, 70,000 
acres five years old and upwards; in 1886, 105,000 acres five years old and upwards; 1887, 
140,000 acres five years old and upwards; in 1888,170,000 acres five years old and upwards. 
The percentage of table, shipping, and raisin grapes, about twenty per cent; balance for wine 
and brandy. 

Wine crop for 1881 was about 12,000,000 gallons; for 1882, about 9,000,000 gallons; for 1883, 
about 8,000,000 gallons. Estimates for 1884 (normal yield), 14,000,000 gallons; for 1885 (nor- 
mal yield), 15,000,000 gallons; for 1886 (normal yield), 20,000,000 gallons; for 1887 (normal 
yield), 25,000,000 gallons; for 1888 (normal yield), 33,000,000 gallons. 

These estimates include brandy — each gallon of brandy represents about four gallons wine 
distilled; so that if one third be distilled in 1887, we shall have about 16,000,00*0 gallons wine, 
and about 2,000,000 gallons brandy. In 1888 we shall have about 22,000,000 gallons wine, and 
nearly 3,000,000 gallons brandy. 

I am inclined now to believe that the estimate of vines planted 
prior to 1881 was too large. I adopted the figure as it has generally 
been fixed by wine-growers; 50,000 acres would probably be near the 
truth. 

The last planting season was unfavorable on account of the dry- 
ness in the early part, and the excessive rains later. Many prospec- 
tive vineyards were delayed or abandoned. I cannot form a very 
clear conception of the acres added, but the figure might reasonably 
be fixed at 20,000. These modifications, if correct, would reduce the 
estimated acreage of bearing vines for 1885, 1886, and 1887, by 10,000, 
and that of 1888 by 20,000. So much margin was, however, allowed 
for partial failures of crops that the Estimates of wine products may 
not have been too great. That of this season is now estimated in 
advance at 15,000,000 gallons from appearances in the field. 

The prices paid for grapes at wineries, where distillation and sweet 
wines are not the chief products, but where dry wine is generally 
attempted, varies from twenty-five to thirty-five dollars per ton of 
variouslv proportioned varieties, and from thirty to thirty-five dollars 
for certain select qualities. Forty dollars would probably be paid for 
sufficient quantities of such varieties as Cabernct-Sauvignon, and cer- 
tain commercially valued coloring stocks. In the same districts the 



20 

new wines of recent vintages have correspondingly varied from 
twenty-five to thirty cents per gallon, naked, and delivered at the 
railway stations in cooperage furnished by the purchaser. Special lots 
from comparatively scarce varieties of French wine grapes of not high 
quality, but valued for blending with light Zinfandels of poor color 
and character, have sold as high as thirty-six cents. Probably, if 
whole cellars of unblended Riesling could have been obtained, the 
price for them would have ruled at from thirty-five to forty cents 
under like circumstances. Inferior cellars unrelieved by certain fair 
proportions of the best average qualities have generally sold at from 
twenty to twenty -four cents. 

There is no way to determine what the values of the wines would 
have been if aged one year at the vineyards. Those producers who 
have kept such wines generally do also a mercantile business, and 
sell direct to the consumers, retailers, and jobbers. In such cases 
mercantile profits are generally added, and the wines may range, 
according to quality and quantity sold, at from thirty to forty-five 
cents per gallon, small lots of single barrels to consumers even at 
prices from fifty to seventy-five cents. The cases where one dollar 
per gallon is charged are not numerous, and do not represent any 
considerable trade, unless it may be in the case of high classed 
Rieslings. 

Considering the prices as for average bulk lots, grapes, or new dry 
wines (naked), in well established districts, and for vineyards of the 
best average quality, yielding about four tons of fruit to the acre, we 
may arrive at an estimate of income as follows: 

Grapes sold to the wineries, $100 to $120 per acre; cost of good 
culture, picking, and delivering crops, $30; net profit, $70 to $90 per 
acre. 

Wine (estimated at one hundred and thirty-five gollons per ton 
and eight gallons of pomace brandy), sold new and naked, $135 to 
$162 per acre; add thirty -two gallons of brandy at seventy-five cents 
(generally more has been realized, but the tendency is downwards 
for pomace brandy), or $24 per acre. Some of the larger establish- 
ments probably make the brandy pay all or nearly all the cost of 
making the wine. 

Most of the wine makers have been struggling without much capi- 
tal and paying large rates of interest to establish themselves, and have 
frequently suffered losses from imperfect fermentation, fires, etc.; so 
the rate of profit has not been more than they deserved. 

The statements made should cause planters to consider the impor- 
tance of combining wine making with grape growing. This will be 
the more desirable in cases of small vineyards, where the crop does 
not exceed three tons to the acre, and where the finest varieties are 
grown, for to get the full benefit of fine varieties they should be care- 
fully fermented by the grower, who understands them, and kept 
apart from inferior stocks which would serve only to drown them out 
of sight of trade. Producers need not fear that the choicest varieties, 
neglected in the past, especially in the case of the best claret grapes 
well adapted to soil and climate, will ever bring less prices than the 
better average grades now do, say, thirty cents a gallon for wine; on 



21 

the contrary, with increased production, the tendency is towards 
lower prices for inferior wines, higher prices for the most select and 
uncertain varieties, though general stability for the good averages, 
which now constitute our best general trade stocks. 
. The probabilities and certainties of success in planting and wine 
making may be deduced in a measure from these statements; the 
direction of probable risk is the same that leads to a low reputation 
for our products. 

The production of high classed wines, aged many years, and sold 
in glass, will certainly never be more generally popular, or safe as a 
general occupation, than in other countries. France, when producing 
fifteen hundred million gallons of wine, never probably surpassed 
ten millions of so called "fine" wines. The department in which 
Bordeaux is situated, and the center of trade for the most celebrated 
wines of foreign commerce, produced only three millions of gallons 
of classed " fine " wines, out of sixty millions total product. 

" Fine " wines never become articles of daily food to the substitu- 
tion of lighter ordinary clarets, sauternes, hocks, etc., on the tables 
of any very intelligent and experienced people of the most wealthy 
classes, and much less so with those of less resources. 

We need good sound commercial wines, ranking in competition 
with French products, as bon ordinaire and superieure. We need 
something better than the simply ordinaire wine to win our way to 
new markets, and to compete against beer. To accomplish these 
results, we need to associate in our vineyards, together with about 
two thirds of such good fertile stocks as Mataro^ Zinfandel, Crabb's 
Black Burgundy, and Carignan (reds), Colombar, Burger, Golden Chas- 
selas, and Folic Blanche (whites), about one third proportion of some 
of the nobler or variously valued less fertile varieties, such as Mal- 
beck, Cabernet- Sauvignon, Burgundy Pinots, and T)~ousseau (reds), Ries- 
lings, Sauvignon-blanc, Semillon, Raisinotte (Muscadelle de Bordelais), 
Traminer, Pinot gris, and Chardenai. To supplement these for blend- 
ing purposes, the trade will demand stocks of tanniferous, coloring, 
and certain flavoring wines, such as Grosser- Blauer, Tannat, Lenoir, 
Petit- Bouschet, Alicante- Bouschet, Gamay Teinturier, Frontignan, etc. 

Whether wine making is to be practiced or not, all plantings of 
wine grapes should be made with reference to wine-making, in order 
to preserve true proportions in the crops of the State. 

Those few who aim at the production of " fine " wines must be the 
most careful in selection of climate, soil, and exposure, and noble 
varieties, and must look well in the face all the necessary appliances, 
such as cellars to mature and store several vintages, and they must 
be content to wait longer for their profits. That there will be a good 
market for a certain large production of "fine" wine, there is no 
doubt, but none should undertake this branch of production who do 
not fully comprehend all its necessities. 

Those who imagine that they are acquainted with truly high classed 
wines, because they have consumed products labeled "Chateau La 
Rose," etc., know as little of the true labels as they do of the wines. 
Governor Stoneman is as likely to sign his name to a business letter 
as " His Excellency Governor Stoneman," as the proprietor of the 



22 

Chateau Gruau La Rose or Leoville- Barton is to use the word Chateau 
on his wine bottles. Wines selling under such labels as are common 
to the hotel wine lists, are generally not equal in quality to a name- 
less bon ordinaire of Bordeaux, but actually pass the custom houses 
under the contemptuous commercial title of vin de cargaison — cargo 
wine. 

I have referred to the prices of our best average commercial lots of 
dry wines. There are sections of the State which, either for want of 
better fermenting facilities, or for want of better proportions of good 
varieties of vines, suited to the climate and soil, which do not enjoy 
the profits named. In such districts prices generally vary from 
eighteen to twenty dollars per ton for grapes at the wineries or dis- 
tilleries, the cost of transportation long distances to the purchasers 
often reducing the profits materially. The growers in such plates 
should secure better stocks by grafting and make their own wines. 

The mercantile prices for wines in large stocks are very reasonable. 
After paying for cooperage, transportation from the country, matur- 
ing, blending, commissions, or traveling agencies, they deliver good 
fair dry wines, free on board steamer or rail, at from forty to forty-five 
cents per gallon. Certain selected lots may rule higher; but it may 
be said that the bulk of our average good stocks may be had, delivered 
to the trade in New York, at from fifty-two to sixty cents per gallon. 
Before these can reach the consumer or retailer, who is not suffi- 
ciently well informed to order direct from leading nouses by the 
barrel, the expenses and profits of the New York agencies, jobbers, 
and commission agents must be added. A well managed trade, how- 
ever, ought to place good California clarets in the hands of retailers 
through New York agencies at a price of not exceeding seventy-five 
cents per gallon, cost of transportation to country places added. An 
addition of ten cents per gallon ought to cover all present differences 
of quality above present ordinary averages, and an addition of fifteen 
more ought to reasonably cover the cost of procuring our best voung 
wines as new plantings develop them. In other words, without low- 
ering present profits to the wine-growers, tlie trade ought to be able 
to place wine, much better than the ordinary grades of imported 
French wines, in the hands of retailers in New York at not exceeding 
one dollar per gallon, as soon as our producers have it for sale, which 
will be within the next three years, and good, sound, ordinary wine 
at not exceeding seventy-five cents— which latter figure represents 
seven and one half cents per contents of the regulation pint bottle, 
which can be sold at fair profit for ten or twelve cents by restaurants, 
or substituted in slightly reduced volume, without extra charge, by 
hotels, for tea or coffee. 

I have not referred to the prices of sweet wines and brandies;, these 
being more easily transportable, are well understood by the trade 
I he cost of fortifying the former with brandy, or spirits, which all 
sweet wines contain to preserve them from fermentation, should be 
decreased by Congress, inasmuch as the wines of this class that we 
compete against are fortified with free spirits. In other words the 
port and sherry wine shipper at Cette, France, can, or could recently, 
buy American corn spirits in bond at Marseilles at about twenty-five 



23 

cents per gallon, while the same goods must cost for our wine makers 
the additional price of ninety cents per gallon internal revenue tax, 
and if using brandy, he uses still more costly material. Our dry 
wines need no distilled spirits, hence the question does not pertain to 
them at present, although in sending some grades of rich wines to hot 
climates it may become necessary, as. is practiced in Europe, to add 
about one per cent of spirits, which should be permitted free of tax. 

Choice brandies from two to three years in bond, have been sold in 
trade at about two dollars and a half per gallon, tax paid; small lots, 
to retailers and consumers, at from three to four dollars. Ordinary 
brandies, in large lots, at from one dollar to one dollar and a quarter, 
in bond, to the trade; certain lots at less figures. 

The finest average brandies that we are capable of producing can 
be profitably sold new, at the distillery, in bond, at one dollar per 
gallon, which would represent about thirty-five dollars gross per ton 
of grapes, or about thirty dollars net. Vineyards for such purposes 
can be planted where the average crop of Burger, Folle Blanche, Colom- 
bar, and West's White Prolific would be about six tons to the acre. It 
is evident, therefor, that the brandy trade should be able to work off 
any surplus stocks of wine grapes with profit at even lower figures, if 
necessary. 

At present the demand for brandy appears to be slack. This fault 
can be speedily remedied by the production of much finer goods to 
compete against whisky. Pomace brandies and those distilled from 
very ripe grapes of poor quality, especially where the juice is fer- 
mented on the skins, will not successfully contend against corn spirits, 
which are cleaner to the taste, if they are not better to the blood. A 
fine cognac type, which we are capable of producing in great quan- 
tity, should successfully enter the market. Plantations, with the 
cognac type in view, have been made, and before long the trade can 
test this question. 

A brandy of original type has been placed on the market by one 
producer, but his system of paying tax and keeping in his own cel- 
lars for maturity, makes the cost too high for general trade, and his 
example will find few imitators. 

Grapes for shipping east by rail have sold at prices ranging from 
forty to one hundred and fifty dollars per ton, the general average 
being about fifty dollars, excepting this year, which records at this 
time about seventy dollars. Recently the eastern demands have 
increased for favorite varieties faster than the new vineyards can be 
brought to bearing. Large crops will no doubt reduce the prices to 
normal conditions. Unless shipping grapes bring at least forty dol- 
lars per ton, growers will prefer to graft over to wine varieties selling 
at considerably less, on account of the extra expenses of picking and 
assorting the former and the losses sustained from the small value of 
the refuse bunches, which will not be profitable to the shipper, but 
which must go to the vinegar factory or distillery. 

While improved facilities for trade and mercantile competition 
have steadily reduced the prices of our wines to the retailer, the con- 
stantly increasing demand and more critical taste of consumers have 
in like degree advanced the prices paid for grapes and new wines in 



24 

the country. The facilities granted by the law for bonding spirits 
have rendered it practicable to distill at reasonable profits, and so to 
relieve the wine markets in a measure of inferior grades. The brandy 
law is, however, still very defective. Wider facilities for transport- 
ing in bond, and regulations for the change of size of packages, and 
refilling loss by evaporation under distillers' stamps, are required. 
The producer has also the right to demand of the Government the 
right to hold his goods until they are properly matured before being 
compelled to sell them. 

The enforcement of a heavy tax on production before the distiller 
has matured his goods, and before he can place them on the market, 
demoralizes the industry and causes vexatious annoyances, sometimes 
actual confiscation. Brandy is no sooner in bond than the owner is 
looking for a purchaser, fearing as he does the danger of being caught 
at the end of the bonded term with unsold property. The present 
law would only be just in case the Government should assume the 
cost of manufacture when it forces spirits upon the market. The 
injustice of enforcing a confiscation tax on property which the owner 
does not offer for sale or consumption is so apparent that no unpre- 
judiced citizen can sustain the policy. The greater part of the evils 
of intemperance is attributable to the action of the Government. In 
England, recently, a reform has been agitated by friends of temper- 
ance on the principle of prohibiting the sale for consumption of any 
spirits under three years of age. In this country producers are com- 
pelled by the Government to sell within that time or to submit to a 
forced loan of an amount greater than the cost of production. 

The policy of enforcing high licenses and oppressing retailers by 
bell punch taxes and the like drains upon their revenue, which at the 
same time permit unrestricted competition, operates to reduce the 
quality of goods sold to the consumer. There would be great wis- 
dom in municipal regulations, based on careful calculations of the 
custom necessary to sustain retailers, by which the number of saloons 
should be limited according to the ascertained consumption at such 
places in each community, so that excessive competition and taxes 
should not force the sale of the cheapest and most inferior goods. 
Supplementary to such regulations the people have an undoubted 
right to demand strict supervision to prevent imposition. In fact, if 
spirits should be treated by the law as products which should not be 
sold in places of convivial entertainment, where the necessary caution 
in selecting and consuming is often impracticable by reason of the 
social conditions surrounding the act, but which should be limited to 
places where no consumption is permitted on the premises, or on any 
other where the trade in spirits is interested in the profits, the wine 
and brandy producers would have no just cause for complaint. If 
the sale of spirits is properly regulated the producers would have just 
cause to complain against discriminations and unjust taxation and 
oppression, both in their own behalf and for the protection of con- 
sumers. 

Present efforts of those who aim to diminish the occasional evils of 
intemperance are conducted on the principle that the many who are 
innocent shall wear straight jackets in order that the foolish few may 



25 

be restrained. The innate disposition for the preservation of personal 
liberty compels the many to assume in part the attitude of defend- 
ing intemperance. Wise regulations for the prevention of alcoholic 
abuses, without interfering with the personal liberty of those who 
require no legal restraints, would meet with the cordial support of 
the great majority of viticulturists. These latter would not be so 
foolish as to anticipate any millennium, nor to imagine that criminal 
indulgences would be much less marked in the general average of 
the people than they are now in the ranks of total abstainers. No 
real progress can be made in reforming intemperate habits without 
curing intemperance itself, which is a habit of undisciplined mind, 
rather than any particular method of exposing the same. The so 
called intemperance, by which word is usually meant abuse of alco- 
holic drinks, is only one phase of intemperate life; restraint of one 
means of self-indulgence does not cure the complaint. The abuse of 
alcoholic drinks indeed often is induced by disordered physical and 
nervous conditions of health, due either to overwork, periods of 
abstinence and poor nutrition, continued and irregular fasts of mind 
in respect to social intercourse, sedentary occupations in badly venti- 
lated apartments, with long fasts between morning and evening 
meals, and their attendant consequences — torpidity of natural appe- 
tite, low spirits, headaches and biliousness, enforced idleness for 
active minds, and unrestrained criminal desires. The evils in these 
cases lie deeper than in the occasional or habitual abuse of alcoholic 
stimulants; and the habit of drinking sound dry wines at meals 
would cure most of these, or alleviate the misfortunes that arise from 
unequal burdens of life. In many cases an uncontrollable tendency 
to alcoholic excesses might be cured by the administration of a dose 
of calomel and quinine, followed by the free use of claret and water 
at meals, and repetition of the anti-bilious treatment as the tendency 
to intemperance recurs. 

It is to the physicians and scientific students of life, who do not 
expect any millennium, that society should look for the reform of 
alcoholic abuses; and to the wholesome restraints and discipline of 
youth in homes that permanent progress in social growth and health- 
fulness must be traced. 

As to criminal acts committed during alcoholic excesses, we may 
assume that intemperance is the result of criminal conditions of the 
mind, which sets no restraints upon ambition and desire. As to 
insanity, who can tell whether it is not the insane disposition that 
leads to alcoholism? 

A society for the promotion of temperance from truly scientific 
standpoints, and free from the intemperate desire to use political 
power contrary to the best interests of the development of individual 
character, should be organized in this country. No better model for 
study could be found than the society which now flourishes in France, 
while much might be added to its scope in the way of disseminating 
public information and reviving parental control and discipline. 

Our industry is forced to a consideration of these questions, not 
only in self-defense against erratic and impractical reformers, but 
also because our success largely depends upon the general good and 
prosperity of the people. 



26 

THE QUESTION OF OVER-PRODUCTION. 

As to the prospect of over-production, in order to arrive at any sat* 
isfactory conclusion, we must first attempt to understand our markets, 
both for the present and the future, and also make some estimate of 
the friendly disposition of the mercantile classes through whom we 
need to reach consumers. 

In respect to wine consumption, having determined the question 
as to the practicability of producing all that may be demanded of 
good quality at reasonable prices to the consumer, after adding the 
ordinary shipping profit of the general dealers, transportation, com- 
missions, and the fair profits of the retailers, we have first to consider 
the capacity of our home markets within the United States for dis- 
posing of our goods. Out of our present population of fifty millions 
of people, certainly not less than thirty millions are without preju- 
dice against the temperate use of wine. These constitute, besides 
those who would habitually use wine at the table if they could obtain 
it of satisfactory quality at reasonable prices, the greater number of 
those who occasionally or habitually use beer or spirits, or who have 
acquired the taste without the habit of wine consumption. Of this 
number there must be at least ten millions who well understand the 
use of wine, but whose habits have been changed or perverted by the 
impracticability of -supplying their wants economically and with 
assurance as to uniform quality. 

Assuming that we produce the necessary grades for commerce, and 
that trade is regulated so as to protect the consumer against imposi- 
tion, ten millions of people, consuming annually thirty gallons of 
Avine per capita, which is less than the average in France including 
all districts, would require an annual supply of three hundred million 
gallons. It may be considered certain that, with a well regulated 
commerce, long before this supply can be provided for by the growth 
of our vineyards, at least that number will have been educated to 
resume civilized habits of life. I will leave it to conjecture as to what 
effect on the demand the rest of the population will create. The 
growth of the country will certainly count for a great deal, and if our 
producers will study the peculiar palates of the. American people, 
they may look forward to the time when the viticultural industries 
of California may successfully produce for home consumption not 
less than one thousand million gallons of wine. 

How many temporary disappointments they may encounter, owing 
to imperfect mercantile resources, dishonest trading, and their own 
lack of facilities for holding their vintages in their own cellars until 
trade demands more supplies, it is difficult to predict. ] have refused 
to take into account, when questioned as to over-production, any 
probable temporary derangements of trade, which will affect the sale 
of wines for short periods; such difficulties attend upon the develop- 
ment of all new industries, and it is the part of wisdom to foresee 
and provide against them. This year there are a few sections of the 
State, where new crops are offered at extraordinarily low prices; the 
cause is not that production is overdone, but that production is not 
complete. There is a want in such places of wine makers to purchase 



27 

grapes, and the cost of transportation to other districts is great. The 
defect in the industry in such cases is in the minds of the planters, 
who should not have heen encouraged to plant vineyards without 
contemplating also the manufacture of their own wines. Their neces- 
sities will bring about the proper remedies; if a few suffer from delay 
in realizing expected profits, their misfortune will not prove the fail- 
ure of the industry. 

The great majority of vine planters should intend to manufacture 
their own products. A few, exceptionally situated, may rely on the 
sale of grapes. This principle does not, as many suppose, apply only 
to the large producers, but more particularly to the small proprietors 
of twenty, thirty, and forty acres. In the latter case the vine-grower 
is less able to sacrifice a part of the profits of his industry than the 
owner of many acres, who may be satisfied with a small rate of reve- 
nue per acre to cover the interest on his investment. As a rule, the 
best wines will come from the small vineyards. We should have no 
one, as the planter of a wine vineyard, who has not the intelligence' 
to make good wine. 

It is not to the interest of viticulture that any conflict should spring 
up between the grape producer and the wine maker, as there must 
inevitably be if the two occupations are divided. The former will 
always lean towards the cultivation of varieties that give the least 
trouble and yield the largest crops; the latter will always endeavor 
to purchase the best quality for wine making at the least possible 
advance above average prices. The wine maker should control the 
time of picking fruit, and the proper proportions to be delivered at 
one time for fermentation. He cannot practically do this when he 
buys the crop of another. The grape producer, who sells his crop, 
throws the risks upon the manufacturer, who in turn attempts to 
shield himself by extra margins for profit. Moreover, the wine crop, 
when largely increased, can be more easily carried until matured, or 
until demanded for trade, by distributing it throughout a large num- 
ber of small cellars, supported by the individual credits and capital 
of many people, than by concentrating it in the hands of a few. In 
other words, the producers cannot afford, while increasing their crops, 
to force all the risks upon a few capitalists. A multiplication of 
wineries and cellars for maturing wine will give stability to prices, 
and avoid unnecessary glutting at shipping points. 

While the leading merchants are engaged in opening new markets 
and perfecting their facilities for distribution, the producers should 
not expect them also to furnish all the capital necessary for the 
storage and care of new wines. As much as possible, wines should 
be matured and stored where they are made, and the vine-growers 
should be the wine makers. Stable prices will depend largely upon 
these principles, and it would be well if all future planting should 
be governed by them. The profits of viticulture are endangered more 
by the competition of incomplete and carelessly planted vineyards 
than by the prospect of over-production. 

High retail prices, false labels, and the refusal of hotels and res- 
taurants to place wine in the same category, with respect to their 
profits, as tea, coffee, and milk, are great obstacles lying between the 



28 

producer and consumer; concerted efforts must be made without 
delay to overcome them. The producers must act in this matter, 
harmoniously, if possible, with the merchants. In large cities, the 
practice of furnishing wine at the family door, collecting and refilling 
empty packages and bottles, and instructing the people in the simple 
management of small stocks obtained in casks, should be inaugurated 
more extensively than is now known. The people, by means of cir- 
culars and advertisements and through the news columns of friendly 
newspapers, should be constantly advised as to the prices for which 
they can obtain good sound wine. They should be taught every- 
where and repeatedly that wine at sixty cents per gallon, when 
bottled, represents a cost of only twelve cents per full bottle and six 
cents for a half, or so called pint; that bottles should not be reckoned 
in the cost by hotels and restaurants any more than tea and coffee 
cups, water pitchers and glasses; that the caterer who does not know 
enough to buy wine in barrels and to do his own bottling, wasting 
neither bottles nor corks, should send for a wine dealer to teach him ; 
and that all pretensions of drinking celebrated brands in public 
houses, except on extraordinary occasions, should be considered proof 
of ignorant affectation and folly. 

The hotel keeper who does not entertain his wine drinking guests 
as liberally as he does those who prefer tea, coffee, or milk at their 
meals, should be fought as an enemy of the vine-grower. The guest 
who pays a fixed price for his meal should not be forced to drink tea 
if he prefers wine. The railway traveler has a right to demand six 
cents' worth of wine — a pint bottle of good claret — with his fifty cent 
or seventy-five cent dinner. There is no hotel or restaurant in 
California that cannot afford to furnish a pint of good claret in place 
of or at the same price as a cup of tea or coffee. The only excuse 
that can be given by the proprietors of such houses for ill treating 
the best class of guests that they entertain is, that placing wine on 
the table and making known that it is really cheap, and satisfies the 
natural desire for stimulus, as well as provides the fruit acids required 
by the digestion, would interfere with the profits and popularity of 
the bar-room. If the many appeals that have been made to them 
to offer equal fare, according to the preference of guests, do not soon 
prevail, the vine-growers and their friends might seriously contem- 
plate such a reform of public hostelries as shall prevent them from 
being conducted in the interest of the bar trade; it might possibly be 
questioned whether the two institutions should be licensed under one 
control. 

This question of hotel fare is of more importance than that of 
merely securing hotel trade. At the hotel many people are educated 
in their habits of life while young, unmarried, or traveling. It is 
there that snobbish notions of fancy brands, and the idea that wine 
is an expensive luxury, are acquired ; and it is there that temperate 
habits of wine drinking at meals, instead of bar-room tippling, might 
be formed. If the hotels and restaurants were the true friends of 
viticulture, the prospects of our industry and of civilizing the habits 
of the country, would be vastly increased. Their cooperation is a 
prize worth winning, and the way to do it is for the wine-growers of 



29 

each section to make their influence felt where they spend their 
money. 

When consumers are taught that a good, sound, pure, ordinary 
claret, a vin ordinaire, without fancy label, or capsule, is good enough 
for the every-day drink of any gentleman, and that a selected wine 
of superior quality, vin superieure, also without fancy name, is good 
enough for a Christmas dinner, they may think that they really 
know as much about wine as the experienced French epicures, whom 
they imagine they have been imitating, when they order their St. 
Julien and their Chateau La Rose. When they learn that their present 
stupidity and monkeyish epicurianism cause them to pay the land- 
lord more profit on a bottle of wine than they do on a whole day's 
regular board and lodging, they will probably unite with us and 
make their influence also felt where they spend their money. 

There will, doubtless, be a chance to begin soon to open a trade in 
certain grades of wines and brandy in London, Holland, St. Peters- 
burg, and the seaports of South America. Our chances of com- 
petition will, probably, be best in the line of the best Rieslings, 
Sauternes, heavy colored clarets, port, sweet white wines, and 
brandy. France will probably restore her vineyards before we have 
much that her trade may demand. If not, we may sell to Bordeaux 
such blends as we can make with Grosser Blauer, Mataro, Zinfandel, 
and Malbeck. Our British cousins may be assured that our Trousseau 
(Bastardo) ports will meet with favor with even the Queen's wine 
merchant; but they must wait until our vines are a little older, 
which will not be long; and we know now that they will soon have 
an opportunity to harmonize their ideas with us, concerning . the 
Panama Canal, over as good a bottle of pale brandy as their com- 
mercial hospitality to the good things of the world deserves. Their 
merchants, who establish their purchasing agents in Reims, Cognac, 
Bordeaux, Oporto, Xeres, and Madeira, will know how to make the 
best selections here, when the proper time arrives. Viticulture in 
California would welcome the arrival of representatives of the 
British wine trade, for they are in all foreign countries the best 
supporters of the honor of the industry, and respected as gentlemen 
at home. 

SHIPPING GRAPES AND RAISINS. 

The progress made in the cultivation of varieties of grapes for 
table use, and for curing into raisins, has been most satisfactory. As 
compared with wine production, these branches of our industry are 
relatively small; yet they already give employment to a large num- 
ber of families and forwarding houses. 

The popular taste for fruit is, however, not very critical at the 
present time, except as to appearances. The most delicately flavored 
grapes are not yet the most in demand. Even for the local markets 
large showy bunches produced on rich soils are the favorites. There 
are a few exceptions, but not enough to cause the planters to cater 
extensively in that direction. Crisp, slightly acid, little flavored, 
large, firm, and brightly colored berries, set in large clusters, represent 
one typ'e of favorites; pronounced muscat aroma and the foxy taste 



30 

of the Isabella represent another; while for home use, the quality 
and dark skin of the Black Prince, or Rose of Peru, and Black Malvasia 
attract those who seem to appreciate that fruit is both food and 
luxury. 

For eastern markets, good keepers and handsome clusters, with 
rosy, amber, and greenish colors, are sought with great energy by 
forwarding houses. The popular varieties for this trade are now 
Moscatel (the Malaga raisin variety), Flame Tokay, Comichon, Black 
Ferrar, and Emperor. No doubt there are many other suitable varieties 
which should be propagated to add attraction to the eastern fruit 
stands. The growers would do well to study them with this object in 
view. The illustrations of the Vignoble, which may be seen at the 
office of this Commission, and such collections as those of Mr. H. W. 
Crabb, at Oakville, Napa County, would aid to suggesting experi- 
mental cultures. This branch of viticulture can be extended as 
rapidly as the markets show continued demands, our resources being 
practically unlimited. For such purposes rich soils should be 
selected and care should be taken to avoid ail irrigation that is not 
necessary to maintain the vigor of the vine. The general experience 
of the State tends to show that the fruit of vines, irrigated in Sum- 
mer, is not as durable as that from unirrigated land. This rule may 
find, possibly, some exceptions in places where hot dry Summer winds 
assist the sap in evaporating its aqueous excess and in elaborating 
fruit acids and sugar. 

Rapid transportation by rail has been provided for the forwarding 
trade, and it is to be hoped that lower freight rates may yet be granted. 
The producers, I believe, can perfect arrangements for preserving 
large quantities of certain varieties of grapes until Winter, when 
they would bring more profitable prices and prolong the markets. 
I am so convinced that this can be done that I intend to make some 
experiments this year. 

The raisin industry received its first popular impulse from the 
attention that was attracted to the products of Mr. R. B. Blowers and 
Mr. G. G. Briggs, of Yolo County. The California Raisin Company 
ventured largely upon it in Placer County, and Riverside led off in 
the example for the young colonies of the southern part of the State. 
The Moscatel, imported by Colonel Haraszthy, is the variety that 
makes the true Malaga raisin and has been largely propagated under 
various names. No doubt there are some differences owing to other 
importations from nurseries in eastern States and Europe where the 
Moscatel has always found a place and where there are often associ- 
ated with it the English seedling stocks. Concerning these differences 
confusion prevails, owing to the varying circumstances under which 
they are grown. 

Inferior raisins have been made from the Flame Tokay, White 
Malaga(f), Feher Szagos, etc., but these should be discouraged. We 
cannot compete against Malaga raisins with any other than the Mos- 
catel. 

Many thousand acres of raisin grapes have been planted, but as 
the Moscatel repeats in California, more or less, its European history, 
it is probable that before long our experience will cause its culture to 



31 

be restricted to certain districts most favorable to its growth and 
fruitfulness. That the range of country is much larger here than in 
Spain for raisin culture is very certain, and results have demonstrated 
that with care in curing and packing, California can soon, if per- 
mitted to enjoy the same protection that is given to eastern industries, 
supply all that the* markets of the Nation demand of as good average 
quality as the products of Spain. 

Raisin and table grape culture will work harmoniously with the 
wine industry, relieving the latter of many tons of fruit that are 
unsuited to the wine press, and sending their surplus and inferior 
culls to the distilleries. The stocks planted for any viticultural pur- 
pose will from time to time, as circumstances and experience guide 
the owner, interchange their original destinies by means of grafting. 
Many Moscatels and table varieties will be grafted to wine grapes and 
vice versa. 

The late crops of raisin grapes, which are worthless for the curing 
processes, or for shipping east, may be made into wholesome light 
dry wine for the families and workmen who do not prefer to pur- 
chase more tonic clarets. It would be advisable for the growers to 
plant a small area in Mataro, Grosser Blauer, and Burger, to mix with 
their refuse Moscatels, so as to provide a more refreshing and accept- 
able wine which, while not of the finest class, would be quite pala- 
table to all who understand its origin and purity. 

The Sultana, a seedless variety, succeeds more widely than the Mos- 
catel. To what extent it will become popular will depend upon the 
demand of the market for Sultana raisins. 

The Corinths, which make the currants of commerce, are being 
experimented with in many places with varying results. They will 
probably become restricted to a very few districts. 

The Committee on Raisins, having in charge the preparation of 
the appeal of the industry for proper protection by Congress, will no 
doubt make a careful statement of all necessary details, which will 
be made public; therefore I shall not attempt to duplicate or fore- 
stall their work. ■ 

I have given special study this year to all questions that I could 
discover bearing upon the culture of the Moscatel, with a view, if 
possible, to indicating methods of preserving its fruitfulness in many 
places where it now appears to fail often. I shall reserve the discus- 
sion of the subject, however, for the proper places under the heads of 
pruning and ampelography. 

EXTENT OF. POSSIBLE VITICULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 

Climatic conditions are practically the tests of possible areas of ara- 
ble land for viticulture in California. In a few cases the chemical 
constituents and physical conditions of soils, and the impossibility of 
obtaining water for irrigation in a few others, may prevent the growth 
and fruitfulness of the vine, where the climate is otherwise favorable. 
The vine nourishes and bears fruit, as Guyot says of France, in all 
geological formations; in the lightest sandy loams, heaviest black 
adobes, gravelly clays, and loams of all shades of color known to the 



32 

farmer, granitic, volcanic, calcareous, silicious, sedimentary, alluvial, 
etc. Given correct climatic circumstances, the physical conditions to 
be ascertained in determining a home for the vine are good drainage, 
especially of the subsoil, elevation above the line of severe late Spring 
and early Fall frosts, a surface soil sufficiently retentive of moisture 
which involves the question of depth and nature of subsoil, as well 
as of chemical composition; and, where irrigation is not practiced, 
either a deep friable, or penetrable subsoil, or rock stratum capable 
of maintaining a reserve supply of moisture, or such relations between 
soil, subsoils, and permanent surface water, not too near the top, as 
shall maintain moisture with proper cultivation by means of capil- 
lary attraction. Very shallow soils, overlying substrata of clay, rock, 
etc., impervious to roots, and especially on flat lands, where drainage 
is thereby impeded, and most unfavorable to the growth of the vine, 
and rich alluvions with permanent water near the surface, are most 
destructive of fruitfulness and the proper ripening of fruit and new 
wood. The few exceptions of soils, with respect to chemical con- 
stituents, are mainly comprised among those that are alkaline, or 
poisoned by the decomposition of certain roots and soured by want 
of proper aeration and drainage. 

The essential climatic conditions consist in a maintenance of a 
certain regular annual range of heat, together with a comparatively 
dry atmosphere, especially during the period of vegetation. Constant 
atmospheric humidity, whether from rains and conditions preceding 
them, or from fogs, is fatal to viticulture. Either the rainfall must 
be sufficient to supply loss of moisture in the soil, or there must be 
conditions to supply the same without fail in all seasons by capillary 
attraction, or seepage from watersheds, or the deficit must be provided 
for by artificial irrigation. The essential quality of the climate of 
California, which extends the' limits of viticultural areas, is the 
aridity of the Summer atmosphere combined with equable temper- 
ature and mild Winters. Where sufficient moisture is maintained 
in the soil, the more arid the atmosphere within the viticultural 
zone, and the more equable the temperature, the broader are the viti- 
cultural opportunities, and the more varied the resources. 

These principles being understood, any practical observer may 
select within the territory of California a site where the vine may be 
made to flourish with proper cultivation. The area of possible viti- 
culture, tested by no other rules, will be found to comprise at least 
two thirds of the arable land, or many million acres. The resources 
of the State with respect to viticultural area are practically exhaust- 
less — vastly more than those of France. It is o.ur dry Summer and 
broad latitude for 'the vine that gives this State an advantage over 
all other countries of the world. 

SELECT LOCATIONS FOR VITICULTURE. 

Experience has shown that, with reference to quality of products, 
certain soils, chemically and physically considered, under peculiarly 
favorable climatic influences, produce the best results. In this respect, 
also, the variety of vine, and the purpose for which it is cultivated, 



33 

further restrict the selection of the best locations. For certain results 
the area for successful cultivation of some varieties is comparatively 
very limited, while it may be very extended for others. Different 
varieties of vines have certain prescribed homes, and within their 
limits their qualities may so vary that for certain uses their limits of 
cultivation must be very carefully restricted. 

Peculiar qualities of certain varieties of grapes control certain cor- 
responding qualities, or characteristics of the products, whether con- 
sidered in the state of nature, or changed by industry into raisins, 
wine, brandy, etc. Conditions of soil and climate may modify these 
characteristics; but in all cases of products of superior quality the 
first essential element of success tending towards any desired result 
is the proper selection and adaptation to soil and climate of the 
appropriate variety or varieties of vines. 

Therefore, in considering what are select locations for vineyards 
within a broad viticultural area, we must determine several questions: 

First — The varieties of vines that will prosper in a given place. 

Second — The various possible products that may be obtained from 
either one or more of such varieties. 

Third — Which of such products are of superior value. 

Following this method of determining the areas for select locations, 
the greatest possible achievements may be estimated. Generally, 
however, careful vine planters have in view some particular type of 
products which they prefer to produce, and are already owners of 
the land to be planted. In this case they may have a select location 
for wine grapes, but prefer to cultivate table or raisin varieties; or 
they may have a fine site for raisin production, and prefer to produce 
a wine of Burgundy type; or they may have a choice place for fine 
Burgundy, and prefer to make sweet ports or sherry. In such cases 
they might fail altogether to produce what they desire, or only 
approximate the same from the commercial standpoint, while at the 
same time they have sacrificed the true value of an otherwise select 
location and diminished the viticultural reputation of the State. 

Others may desire to purchase land for the cultivation of varieties 
for certain products, but may select places unsuited to their purposes. 
These, besides depriving the State of the advantages of their good 
intentions, well directed, add to the mistakes of the preceding, in 
increasing the production of inferior goods, and still further injure 
the prospects of commerce. 

Others, also, ignoring that there are qualities of superiority inhe- 
rent in different varieties, may, as many have done, estimate the value 
of what they select to plant by the sole test of quantity, and trust to 
the trade to find use for their crops. This class cannot, with very few 
exceptions, avoid falling into errors that degrade quality, and tend 
to defeat the ends of commerce by disappointing or disgusting con- 
sumers. 

Admitting that viticulture might fall into all these errors, part 
unintentionally, part heedlessly, the result would be that practically 
there would be no choice vineyard locations, and competition with 
viticulture of other countries, governed by experience and intelli- 
gence, would be impossible in all except the line of inferior goods. 
3 



34 

Another possibility is worth reflection. Admitting that there are 
within the State many millions of acres on which viticulture may 
thrive, of which only a part is suited to produce the finest results, 
and that the demand for oar products will not justify the cultivation 
of more than a comparatively small portion of the entire area in 
vines, it might happen that the lands selected for vineyards will all, 
or nearly all, be of inferior quality. In that case, from a brilliant 
possibility viticulture would descend to the level of an unpromising 
fact. 

It is scarcely worth while saying that in the event of the selection 
in all cases of the most favorable locations and of their devotion to 
the types of products possible of attainment in the highest degree of 
perfection, care being taken, where choice is practicable, to avoid 
over-production in those directions where markets are most limited, 
viticulture would achieve its most brilliant successes, danger of over- 
production would be practically avoided, profits of producers would 
be insured, and commerce would be facilitated by the popularity of 
products. 

Having reflected on these possibilities, viticulturists will find it 
easy to draw the following conclusions without danger of being con- 
sidered partisan or prejudiced: 

First — That only a portion of the possible viticultural area of Cal- 
ifornia can within this generation be profitably cultivated in vines. 

Second — That for certain desired products only comparatively lim- 
ited areas have special advantages for the production of superior 
quality, and, in some cases where quality can be assured, there are 
economical differences as to facilities for transportation and labor 
supply. 

Third — That products of superior quality will command the best 
prices and readiest sale, as compared with inferior goods of the same 
types. 

Fourth — That so long as profitable prices are paid for goods of supe- 
rior quality, the progress of plantation in districts where they may be 
produced will probably continue. 

Fifth — That whenever over-production occurs, inferior products 
will be rejected by commerce, unless ruinous competition has made 
production of the finest articles unprofitable, in which case, all will 
suffer to some extent. 

Sixth — That owing to the possibility of over-production of inferior 
goods, it is the part of wisdom to counsel planters to strive to produce 
those types of commercial value which will find the readiest markets, 
and for which their lands and facilities are best adapted. 

To accomplish these desirable results, those who own land which 
they desire to plant, should abandon all prejudices as to preferred 
products, which they have least chances of attaining, and either 
abandon viticulture or devote their resources to their best probable 
advantages. And those who desire to purchase lands for the purpose 
of engaging in the production of certain preferred types, should be 
careful to select locations most favorable to the culture desired, 
facilities for transportation and labor, as well as soil and climate, 
being considered. 



35 

THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF SOILS. 

It is too early in the history of viticulture in California to pretend 
to classify the soils best adapted for the production of the finest results 
from the standpoint of chemical analysis. No general rule for close 
application can be deduced from the experience of other countries, 
and our own experience is yet too limited. Chemistry does not even 
reveal the secrets which control the marked difference of quality 
between the wines of many neighboring vineyards in the old world, 
where the question of cause has long been mooted. 

The planter should dismiss entirely from his mind, so far as he is 
controlled by practical desires, the notion of attaining to the distinc- 
tion of remarkably fine and locally celebrated wines. His practical 
aim may be to produce a type of fine average excellence within a 
given district of general average conditions. The happy selection of 
a spot destined to be celebrated may partly be due to his own careful 
study of analogies, but will be mainly due, with respect to other 
apparently equally fine localities, a matter of chance. Careful selec- 
tion may bring him within the charmed circle of lottery prizes, but 
his may not prove the highest on the list. 

It is more than probable that the chemical constituents of soils 
have less to do in causing the fine distinctions that are noticeable to 
connoisseurs in wines of neighboring growth, than the varying phys- 
ical conditions, such as depth, drainage, elevation, shelter from or 
exposure to certain atmospheric influences, preorganic history of the 
humus and vegetable mold, and slightly varying proportions and 
sporting developments of the varieties of vines cultivated. 

Chemistry, together with careful observation of the physical con- 
ditions of soils and local climatic 'conditions, may indicate the 
general features of a wine district capable of producing a general 
average result, similar to some desired local average product. For 
instance, there is sufficient common resemblance within each class 
of the local wines of the Medoc, Sauterne, Burgundy, Xeres, the 
Rhine, the Champagne district, Roussillon, and the brandies of 
Cognac, notwithstanding the fine distinctions drawn between those 
of different vineyards, to constitute what we may call local district 
types. In the attempt to reproduce, or approximate, or rival any one 
of them, we may derive some advantage from the chemical analysis 
of soils. 

However, the exact counterpart of the soil of Johannisberg on the 
Rhine, with the same varieties of vines, would assuredly fail to pro- 
duce the same fine results in the climate of Nice or Roussillon. 
Hence the first consideration must always be that of climatic influ- 
ences and physical conditions. Then chemistry may lead to approxi - 
mate conclusions. Chemistry could not find a vineyard on the Rhine, 
nor in Napa County, of this State, for the production of Malaga raisins. 
How far climate will influence the production of desired types, where 
soil is satisfactory, and the varieties of vines are properly selected, 
experience only can prove. I have proceeded, in giving advice as to 
the selection of types, on the theory that the history of any given 
variety of vine in other countries will reveal the surest and safest 



36 

guides to follow; and I have always advised planters to follow those 
indications of success, which are comprised within the greatest num- 
ber of points of resemblance to their own localities, and those of 
regions where certain varieties have become popular in other coun- 
tries. Thus I find the celebrated Moscatels, Corinths, Cabernets, Pinots, 
and Rieslings, very restricted in European culture. Some experience 
in this State with the same varieties tends to demonstrate the same 
destiny as possible for them here; and I find that the general rules 
governing their restriction, both here and in Europe, so far as any 
experience is recorded, point to certain climatic influences and 
physical conditions of soil as the true secrets of success and failure, 
rather than to noticeable differences revealed by chemistry. Certain 
other observations, with reference to certain types of wine, reveal less 
importance in the study of varieties, and more in the study of chem- 
istry and climate. This is applicable, particularly, to sherries and 
ports, although in them, also, variety of vine rules the quality, though 
a given variety may not be as necessary to produce the commercial 
type. 

I shall not pursue these observations any further, having outlined 
sufficiently the general principles that should govern the selection of 
locations with reference to certain desired results, recognizing the 
relative importance of different means to that end. 



37 



SUGGESTIONS 



CONCERNING 



The Development of Commerce in Viticultural Products in the United States. 

(Prepared especially for this edition.) 



In addition to the information contained in the foregoing extracts, 
the following suggestions have been prepared for publication in this 
pamphlet, especially designed to attract the attention of those visitors 
at the New Orleans World's Fair who may be inclined to studies of 
an industrial nature, or who may wish to learn what opportunities 
are opened by viticulture for the investment of capital. 

The work of this Commission does not prominently include any 
idea of promoting immigration to California; such occupation belongs 
to the duties of other public and private bodies. Our effort is to pro- 
claim present achievements in our industry, point out defects and 
the means of remedying the same, to collate and produce informa- 
tion tending towards the advancement of our prosperity, and to 
attempt, when necessary, to induce the full development of all depart- 
ments of enterprise directly and indirectly connected with our suc- 
cess. If this shall sometimes lead us to seek the attention of people 
who are at present not intimately acquainted with possibilities and 
necessities of production and commerce in California, we may at least 
claim the merit of suggesting fixed plans of action for those who are 
in condition to engage in new enterprises. 

Sufficient progress has been made in viticulture in California to 
demonstrate the possibility of creating an industry equal to if not 
greater than anything that has been achieved of similar nature by 
any other nation of the world. The questions of quality of products 
have already been well investigated, and there remains only to be 
considered the energy and will to apply the lessons that have been 
learned, provided that markets for our products are assured and mer- 
cantile facilities are ample. Intimately associated with the mercan- 
tile branches of the industry is necessarily the utilization of expert 
labor and talent in the management of our products. 

Let it be assumed that the vine-growers of California, including 
those new accessions constantly coming to the State for the purpose 
of finding pleasant and prosperous homes, shall, with progressing 
knowledge and experience, succeed in producing qualities of wines, 
brandies, raisins, and table fruit satisfactory to great markets and 
equal to all demands; yet there are two important questions to be 
solved before success such as is hoped for is attained. 

First, we must consider the possibilities of commerce in seeking 



38 

consumers, or, in other words, the extent to which markets may be 
increased. 

Known demands fc*r anything, except the actual necessities of life, 
are seldom, if ever, in excess of supply. There was no known de- 
mand for the fresh fruit of California until our orchardists and vine 
growers came, with their goods, into the markets of eastern and west- 
ern States and the Territories. More pertinently, we should say that 
this demand was not known until skillful forwarding merchants had 
undertaken the risk of tempting the natural desires of the people. 
We cannot to-day even approximately estimate the extent to which 
such enterprise, aided by improved facilities for transportation and 
retail trade, may increase the markets for our fresh fruits. The sys- 
tematic excitement and supply of the natural desires of a great 
nation, backed by a producing energy always a little in advance of 
mercantile enterprise, and agricultural resources practically unlim- 
ited, may even astonish our own generation by the greatness of our 
commerce. 

Our market for raisins is one growing with the prosperity of our 
people and the increase of population, without any known increase 
of clanger from competition. In this branch of viticultural indus- 
try a steady healthful progress is assured free from undue excitement; 
its mercantile resources are easily organized, without much novelty 
in experiment to contend with. 

With respect to wines, especially those staple grades intended for 
home consumption at the table, not as luxuries, nor as extraordinary 
accessories of conviviality, there are a number of serious questions to 
consider. Admitting that the customs of the people are formed by 
natural desire, educated habit, and opportunity, and that where the 
opportunity to form the habit of wine drinking as the regular and 
ordinary part of the daily meal has existed, natural desire has always 
resulted in the educated habit, except under certain restraining ecclesi- 
astical influence such as that experienced within Mohammedan 
civilization. We may safely assume that in these United States our 
people would become habitual wine consumers if proper opportunity 
were offered, within the time of one generation. To explain this 
proposition to people of intelligence would be a waste of words; we 
may therefore confine ourselves to the questions of ample production 
and opportunity to form the habit on which the future commerce 
must depend. 

Studying the taste of consumers, who have already had the good 
fortune to form this civilized habit, our producers are rapidly im- 
proving their vineyards and their methods of vinification, so as to be 
able to satisfy expected demands. That they will succeed is not to 
be questioned, for we, in California, have seen evidences of progress- 
that commerce in general is not yet aware of. 

We may say with certainty, that we shall be able to produce the 
satisfactory material for commerce, and that the field for the develop- 
ment of markets is equal to our enterprise in production. The only 
weakness in our industry lies in the want of adequate development 
of those commercial relations, which are necessary to bring consumers 
and producers together, and to supply the link of opportunity. 



39 

Within this department of activity are thousands of places for the 
employment of intelligent labor and capital, and it is to them that 
we especially invite public attention. 

It will be necessary to so control and distribute the vintages of our 
State that wine shall cease to be an expensive luxury beyond the 
reach of the everyday desires of the great masses of our people; wine 
must be both cheap and accessible, as it must be also presented pure, 
wholesome, and palatable. This will necessitate the organization 
throughout the country of a legitimate and distinct wine trade in all 
its branches from wholesale to retail, and the obliteration of present 
customs which prevent the use of wine except as a luxury. It will 
need also ample protection by the Government against fraud, imposi- 
tion, and adulteration. 

Wines must first be fermented in the country where the grapes are 
grown; then they must be stored in cellars, to acquire proper matur- 
ity, one or more years, either at the vineyards or in establishments of 
those who purchase the new wines to mature for future sales. The 
progress of planting vines in California during the last four years has 
been much in advance of the development of suitable accommoda- 
tions for the storage and care of the products; in many places even in 
advance of facilities for the first fermentations. This difficulty has 
been already apparent, during the vintage of 1884, and more particu- 
larly during the Winter and Spring following, when wine makers 
have been seeking to dispose of their products, not yet ready for the 
consumer, to those who have been accustomed to receive and care for 
new wines. Our vintage of 1884 has been generally estimated at fif- 
teen million gallons, or about five millions in excess of the average of 
several preceding years. This excess, if adequate storage and cellar 
management were provided, would prove an immense advantage to 
our trade, by causing a reserve to be withheld from sale until prop- 
erly matured. Heretofore only a small portion of our vintages has 
been matured before shipment to market, the demand having pre- 
vented reserves from being kept back. But our industry now feels 
the want of more wine makers among the vine-growers, more cellars 
for storage, and more mercantile resources for controlling the vint- 
ages. Our Commission has appealed to the vine-growers to engage in 
wine making to utilize their own crops, and not to depend upon the 
sale of grapes to wine makers; also, to provide at the vineyard good 
cellarage for' at least one vintage, while another is in progress, so as 
to have wines at least one year old before they are offered on the 
market-. This advice applies mainly to the large number who have 
engaged in vine planting during the last four years. Among the older 
vine-growers there are many who make up their own wine, but there 
are few who have facilities for storing and maturing a vintage, the 
rule having prevailed to sell new wines to merchants during the 
Winter and Spring following the first fermentation, so as to make 
room at the winery for the next crop. Many vine-growers will not 
have the means to accomplish what is needed, therefore there is 
immediate demand for independent wine making establishments, as 
well as also for storage cellars. Wine makers may buy grapes and 
sell or store their products. Cellarage may be managed either by 



40 

those who produce or buy new wines, or for the accommodation of pro- 
ducers, who will pay for storage and may, even, borrow money on 
their goods, when so placed as to constitute good collateral security. 
There is, therefore, a good opportunity in this State for the investment 
of large or small amounts of capital in wine making, storage, and 
the purchase of new wines. 

To measure the extent of this last mentioned opportunity, we have 
only to briefly estimate the probable products of the next few years, 
based on a knowledge of the new acreage of vines coming into bear- 
ing. In 1884 we produced, as estimated roughly, not less than fifteen 
million gallons, and have far less facilities for storage than we require, 
with even in many places very imperfect means for conducting fer- 
mentations. This quantity will rapidly increase each year; the vint- 
age of 1885 will not be less than twenty million gallons, probably 
considerably more. In 1888 we now estimate that we shall probably 
have fifty million gallons, and under certain contingencies of the 
season we may have even sixty or seventy million gallons. This 
rapid increase will no doubt force a large reserve into storage, while 
merchants are organizing their trade, until probably in 1888 there 
will be required for cooperage for the new crop of that year, together 
with the reserve, a capacity for at least one hundred million gallons. 
A portion of this will undoubtedly fall into the control of eastern 
cellars that will be built for the reception of new wine, but the ques- 
tion of opportunity remains the same, whether the enterprises are 
conducted in this State or elsewhere. There are many people through- 
out the United States who are familiar with the proper management 
of wine cellars, especially among those who acquired their knowledge 
in Europe; there are many practical men who know that with capital 
well directed they can employ expert labor at command; and there 
are many who know that the establishment of a wine trade in any 
city must begin with the creation and economical management of 
commodious cellars suitable for the purpose. To such people these 
suggestions are addressed, as well as to those who may invest in enter- 
prises having in view the building of large cellars at convenient 
points in this State, where storage room may be rented and where 
capital can find ample security in making loans. Such schemes are 
already being broached here and must soon take form. 

The next great question involved in the development of opportunity 
for the benefit of the consumer, and the creation of markets, will be in 
localizing distributing wine cellars in all populous parts of the United 
States, wherever civilized habits have not been forbidden by law. 
There are few cities or towns in the United States to which a consign- 
ment of even a few thousand gallons of wine could be made with 
safety, and knowing that it would fall into the hands of a competent 
cellar-master in command of a properly equipped and arranged cellar. 
To develop a legitimate wine trade there must be good wine cellars 
in all centers of population; and all retailers must learn how to care 
for even small lots that they may have to dispose of. Each one, who 
attempts to open a trade in wine, should be careful to instruct his cus- 
tomers how to care for the goods they buy, and- how to economize in 
the expenses of distribution, so that consumers may obtain good sound 



41 

wine at cheap prices. The consumer also must be taught how to 
receive, draw off, and bottle wine from the barrel at the least possi- 
ble cost. In every populous part of our common country there may 
be found a good market for wine, if the trade is managed properly 
and not as a mere adjunct of the whisky depot, or grocery store. 
Long before this state of commerce can be well organized there will 
be good stocks of matured wines to procure in California, and many 
who understand, or who will study the business, may begin even now 
to lay in stocks of new wines, properly caring for them until they are 
fit for consumption. Here are opportunities for engaging in a branch 
of our industry, without coming to California, open to people in every 
city and town. 

Meanwhile, those who intend to foster the legitimate wine trade of 
the United States, should begin without delay to use their influence 
to break down the unjust custom of retailers, especially hotel and 
restaurant keepers, who demand extortionate profits on the sale of 
wines. The rule must soon be, as our productions demand recogni- 
tion, that the wine drinker shall be treated as fairly as the tea and 
coffee drinker. This subject has been discussed fully in the report 
from which extracts have already been given in this pamphlet. 

There will be also an opportunity for the development of a lesser 
trade in fine brands, suitable for bottling and a select custom. Wines 
for such purpose must be selected carefully from large stocks, such as 
will be found in California, the relative proportions of the finest 
qualities rapidly increasing as new vineyards come into bearing. 

A foreign trade to some extent will also find a foothold, and if 
British merchants do not seize upon the opportunity to establish pur- 
chasing agents here, with distributing houses in London, they will 
do otherwise than has been their custom in dealing with other coun- 
tries. 

Brandies will become graded, not only as to locality of production, 
but also and more especially with reference to the quality of grapes 
from which they are made; the trade should make a marked distinc- 
tion also between brandy distilled from pomace, the residuum after 
pressing wine, and that resulting from wine fermented for the pur- 
pose of distillation. The Internal Revenue regulations should also 
enable both consumer and dealer to distinguish between pure grape 
spirits and compounds of grain and grape spirits, such as are com- 
monly sold under the wholesale liquor dealer's stamp. 

The producers in California are prepared to experience some disor- 
der and difficulty during the next few years, during which a great 
trade is forming to meet the demands of rapidly increasing produc- 
tion, and will not be discouraged by temporary difficulties. Those 
who are not prepared to control their own vintages until ready for 
trade or consumption, will possibly suffer temporarily in prices real- 
ized; but from such troubles the industry will not suffer any material 
or permanent retrogression, nor will new plantations made with dis- 
cretion be retarded. 

The class of labor that is most needed in California to assist in our 
vineyard work is that which brings the family, accustomed to country 
4 



42 

life, and sufficient means to purchase small lots of land in the midst 
of vineyards, where they may employ part of their time for them- 
selves and part for the vine-growers. Other agricultural operations 
afford, also, employment to such people, who may come here with 
safety. The rover, without intention of establishing a home for 
himself, is a disadvantage to himself, and only a make-shift to his 
employer. With from one to five acres of choice land in the imme- 
diate vicinity of communities of vine-growers, the settled family of 
agricultural working people will become prosperous in California. 
Such lands are to be had at all prices, according to quality and situ- 
ation; but, as a rule, the highest priced are the best suited for such 
homes, and also the most surely profitable. Such families may 
engage on a small scale in the culture of vegetables, small fruits, 
orchard trees, vines, and in rearing domestic animals and poultry. 
In future they "will, in many cases, also take to silk production as an 
accessory to other employment. It is a mistake to encourage these 
people to seek wild mountain lands, however cheap, that are inac- 
cessible to markets for products and centers of employment. Many 
of them, thus falsely directed, make failures, and live miserably 
until they abandon the possessions, which they are unable to develop, 
and seek employment where they can utilize their energies to their 
best advantage. 

Hoping that these suggestions may be read by some who will apply 
them practically to their own benefit, and the further advancement 
of our industry, and that all who read this pamphlet may reflect 
upon the great blessing which viticulture will prove to the civiliza- 
tion of our country, the writer also sincerely wishes good 1 fortune to 
fall to the lot of all the noble industries, stimulated in action by the 
World's Fair at New Orleans, and especially to our younger sisters 
in the sunny South. 

CHAS. A. WETMORE, 
Chief Executive Viticultural Officer. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



022 265 779 9 



